Resist

Brazil - The Enawene-Nawe have decided to fight for the right to decide their own future and not grant this right to others.

The Enawene-Nawe are an indigenous group that lives in the Juína River
basin. The group is related to the Aruaque, and have a population of 520
people and they occupy a territory of 742,000 hectres. The Enawene-Nawe had
their lands demarcated in 1996, more than 20 years after their first contact
with the modern world. The demarcation, however, neglected to include areas
crucial to the Enawene-wene´s culture. They wish to expand their territory,
having seen the area they have indicated that they have a historic and
sacred relationship with the land that is important for their survivial
culturally, and physically. The Enaweane’s request to expand their
territories has enraged local farmers. In the disputed Black River region,
agricultural development and…

by anonymous on 06/11/08 | Read More

Brazil - Deni indigenous people fighting logging companies.

From 2001-2004, we had worked very closely with the deni indigenous people
for the brazilian government official recognition of their right to the
land. In 2000, we discovered that a huge portion of land was bought by the
Malaysian logging company WTK in the western of the amazonas state… when
investigating, we also found that part of the land bought by WTK was
occupied by the Deni indigenous people and we went there to alert them. The
deni were very scared and asked for our help to protect their land.
Together with other indigenous organizations, a multi-skilled team went to
the Deni land and worked with them, teaching the Indians how to use
demarcation tools (as compass, GPS, etc) to…

by anonymous on 06/11/08 | Read More

Roraima, Brazil - If the government try to take our land or try reducing it in size then we will fight.

My name is Jasir De Souza.
I am a Macuxi and my name in my language is Salomão. I live in Roraima state in the north of Brazil and we, the Macuxi, are the biggest population of indigenous peoples in Raposa Serra do Sol. We also have other indigenous peoples who live near us like the Wapichana, Ingaricó, Patamona, Taripan, Lanomami, Wapichamas, and Uaiuai people.
I am a Macuxi Indian. I am 60 years old. When I talk with the older generation of indigenous peoples, our relatives and friends, they say at the time of our grandparents and our great grandparents there were no white people around,
it was just our people. We lived from the land, fishing and hunting.…

by Jasir De Souza on 27/10/08 | Read More

Brighton / Brazil - Creating our own reality

Inspired by the thought that we are constantly creating our reality, a group of friends from Brighton with connections in Bahia, Brazil, decided to make a dream happen. Twelve people each put money towards buying a farm in Brazil to create a place for sustainable living; a place where the water is sourced from a spring and the earth is fruitful, a place for livin’ good… And so one day we found ourselves the “owners” of a chocolate farm…Inspired by the idea of collective ownership practised by many indigenous tribes we created an organization to hold the ownership of the land and included local workers in the collective. We try and promote the idea of steward ship of the land…

by PuraVida on 29/08/08 | Read More

Brazil - 3 Blood Brothers

This is a history about my family!!  I produced the documentary about them and I think that this is very interesting to your project.  3 brothers, 3 resisting human being!!

The “3 Blood Brothers” is about three brothers who performed a very important role in the social, politic and artistic history of Brazil. They were: Betinho, a social scientist who founded the “Campaign Against the Hunger and Poverty”; Henfil, a cartoonist who fought hard to bring back the people who were exiled during the dictatorship and to establish the direct elections here in Brazil; and Chico Mario, a musician and composer who always defended the recognition of Brazilian music’s quality and produced songs against the torture in Brazil during the…

by Marcos Souza on 30/07/08 | Read More

Some cases of tribal resistance around the world

The Dongria Kondh, India
http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/dongria
The Dongria Kondh are trying to stop FTSE 100 British company Vedanta from mining their sacred mountain and destroying their land and their livelihood. They recently travelled to the state capital to hold a demonstration. There is a network of people in India supporting them, and this is seen as a test case in a country where tribal peoples are being swept aside to make way for rapid industrialisation. The Indian Supreme Court is due to rule later in the summer on whether Vedanta can go ahead with the mine.

Yanomami, Brazil
http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/yanomami
The Yanomami are probably Survival’s most emblematic case. Huge numbers of them died in the 80s and 90s when goldminers invaded their…

by Survival - the Movement for Tribal Peoples on 16/06/08 | Read More

Amazon - Indigenous people resist dams

1,000 Indigenous peoples of the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon recently met for the first time in nearly 20 years to oppose dams planned for the river. They declared their opposition to the projects and vowed to take any action necessary to prevent their construction. The final letter from the meeting stated ““Our culture, our spirituality, and our survival are deeply rooted in the Xingu, and we depend on it for our existence ... We, who have protected our Xingu River do not accept the invisibility with which they wish to impose decisions upon us, nor the way we are treated with disdain by public officials … We demand respect.” For stories and images from the meeting, please see…

by anonymous on 05/06/08 | Read More